Lyndon Dykes has become Charlton’s second signing of the January transfer window. The Scottish international joins from Birmingham City on a permanent deal until the end of the season.
A big, tall, workhorse striker, Dykes seems like the perfect fit for Nathan Jones. He will bring strength, desire and a little bit of the dark arts in a position where The Addicks have been lacking cover. Miles Leaburn has played a lot of minutes recently and it’s impressive his body hasn’t broken down. Dykes will ease that burden.
The 30 year old was born in Australia and, in addition to football, he spent his youth playing both codes of rugby as well as basketball and Aussie Rules. His family are from Dumfries and he spent some time at Dumfries-based Queen of the South U20’s before moving back to Australia to play for three different clubs. Queen of the South came calling again in 2016 and Dykes made 100 league appearances for the club scoring 12 goals and earning him a move to Scottish Premiership side Livingstone. He fired in 11 goals in 28 appearances before Queens Park Rangers bought him for a reported £2 million in 2020.
He joined Birmingham City in 2024 and has netted twice this season. Initially that looks unimpressive from 21 appearances but he has only played 420 minutes. Only Harvey Knibbs has a better Goals per 90 ratio for The Addicks. Dykes will link back up with Charlie Kelman who he played with at QPR.
While his offensive stats are more impressive than they appear, the defensive side of his game is why he’s been brought in. He is within the top 7% of strikers for tackles, duels won, ariels duels won and interceptions in the Championship (stats as per FotMob). He also ranks highly for touches, successful dribbles, and how infrequently he is dispossessed.
He might not immediately seem like an exciting signing but with a potential World Cup place to fight for and the attributes Jones loves, he could easily become a key cog in the Charlton machine.
Jones is delighted to have landed the striker: "He’s a big, physical striker who works hard, scores goals and brings plenty of Championship experience, giving us another strong option in attack.”